In the middle of the 20th century, America built a network of roads, bridges, and telecommunications second to none in the world. Yet for several decades, we have underinvested in maintaining and modernizing our infrastructure. Our states are now filled with broken-down roads, closed bridges, mass congestion, and bottlenecks in rail and seaports. Our dilapidated infrastructure costs us time, aggravation, and income. Rebuilding America’s infrastructure for the 21st century will boost jobs, productivity, resilience to floods and storms, and our capacity to innovate.

In at least thirteen states, more than a quarter of the public roads are in poor condition, and our rail quality badly trails many other countries. [23]

Large parts of the Netherlands are below sea level, but that country has invested heavily to create strong protections against flooding. [24] The recent hurricanes show that communities everywhere need to make investments to protect against the natural hazards to which they are vulnerable.

Seven states invest more than 4% of state GDP in research and development, but another twelve states invest less than 1%, falling behind in income and job creation. [25]